Let's explore Japan: 1. Tokyo

Last thursday the long awaited moment had come: The 6 hour flight to Dubai was teh beginning of our Asian experience. For me, this was already an important part of the story, not only because I love flying and paid a lot for it, but also because it turned our dream to see Japan slowly into reality. After a very long time equalling a couple movies, we finally made it from Dubai to Osaka. There had been no signs of tiredness for a long time, accordingly I only slept about half an hour on the whole flight and Raphael didn't sleep much more. We were just too amazed for the things to come, but now both felt there was missing something called sleep! The last flight, from Osaka to Tokyo, was only a bit more than one hour, but it felt like forever. When we arrived in Tokyo we were glad that the customs had already checked and given us a visa in Osaka. We could gather our baggage and walk straight to the train which took us to Asakusa, where our Hostel was. (After walking around for quarter an hour, we found out, that our doss was only a couple metres from the underground.) We felt released when we finally lay on our beds.
Saturday morning we both woke up at about 4 o'clock and couldn't sleep anymore. At five, we decided to get up and walk a bit. We had an appointment we Raphael's friend Miwa and Kaori who I knew from New Zealand at 9, but unfortunately they both didn't make it, so we started to explore the city on our owns. Later in the morning we bumped into Miwa at a trainstation, how lucky. Now it was easy to meet Kaori, too, because Miwa could phone her. But before that, we ate our first Japanese lunch! How delicious!!! Exploring Tokyo with local people was the best. Not only could they show us good places and ask for everything, but they could also explain us all the cultural knowledge you need when visiting a temple, shrine or most importantly when eating. After a karaoke-session we were ready to see the one-and-a-half-hour firework. We already took part in a giant party the first evening in Japan. I think I've never seen that many people before and accordingly it took us about half an hour to get a seat in a restaurant. It was worth it though! I never imagined we could have so much fun! And the best: In Switzerland you would pay 3 or 4 times as much as we paid here! Now we were happily walking to our Capsule-Hotel, a Japanese speciality, too.
Sunday we went to Yokohama to meet up with my friend Mayumi. She showed us around and we talked about travelling to the north part of Japan, which was next after Tokyo. Initially she said she would accompany us, but unfortunately she didn't feel well enough now. I hope Mayumi is getting better soon! She still helped us a lot with travelling. She made up plans, checked the trains and she even bought us vouchers to get the flight from Sapporo back to Tokyo for about half the price. Thank's a lot for that!
The evening we agreed to meet in Roppongi with Miwa and Kaori again. What we didn't know then was, that we were waiting for about two hours at different places of the very big underground station. Because we had now phone, it was really difficult to find out where the others were. But once again: It was worth waiting and we spent another great evening. The night we stayed at a manga kissa. That's a place where you can play games all night and sleep on the couch in your cell. Miwa accompanied us and at the end we didn't sleep more than one hour. At 4:40 we had to get up to see the auctions on the famous Fishmarket. Kaori and Miwa did a fabulous job showing us around and answering all our questions, sometimes with the help of people working at the fishmarket. At the end, it was 6:30, we ate a big plate of fresh fish right at the market. Miwa and Kaori then also helped us to find an ATM. We had tried already a lot of banks with Mayumi, but they didn't even accept our credit cards. The end of our great time with the two Japanese girls, we went to a huge shrine. Kaori gave me a Japanese lesson on the way with useful expressions like "a car is coming!" or "I want to sleep!". We concluded our time with the two on a stroll to the nearby park. Then we first had to say goodbye to Kaori in the train, went out for dinner with Miwa and also had to bid farewell to Miwa. Therefore we went to a place were you can take pictures and arrange them, the funniest thing ever!
When I lay in my capsule, it didn't even take a minute until I was asleep and I guess Raphael crashed out, too!

Preparing for Japan: Japanese Food

In addition to plan what to do in Japan, we also thought it would be useful to have a cultural habituation, at least concerning food. See the pictures to feel how much we enjoyed Miso Soup, Rice and Seasoning Mix and of course Plum Wine :-). (To have a closer look click on a picture and then click on full screen in the album)

Planning: Okinawa, Korea

The planning of our Trip goes on and on, as you see on the calendar on the bottom of the Blog! Well, it's high time to do so, because we're already at the point where the time to wait for Japan (which is highly visible on the counter above :-)) is shorter than the time we actually spend abroad!!! Crazy ey... ^^ But planning is actually progressing quite well.
We have decided to spend one week on the island of Okinawa in the southwest of Japan. This is supposedly one of the most beautiful places in the whole country. At least, that's what all our Japanese friends say (They're always swarming if you ask anything about Okinawa ;-)). Talking about friends: I'd like to say thank you to everybody who helped us planning the whole thing! Without you guys from Japan and Korea, that would all have been much more difficult! I'm looking forward to see you all soon! :-)
After one week of paradise in Okinawa, we'll take the flight not back to Tokyo, but to Fukuoka. The latter is one of the Japanese Cities which have a ferry connection to Busan, South Korea. And that's where we're heading to straight after scuba-diving and snorkeling around the coral reefs.
From Busan there is a direct highspeed train to Seoul, according to the internet it's similar to the TGV in France. We'll spend two days in the capital and then leave for Chuncheon to meet my friend June. Going down south the east coast of South Korea, we'll come back to Busan. But before taking the ferry to return to Japan, we'll make a side trip to Jeju-Do. Now this Island is supposed to be the most beautiful place in South Korea. I'm sure we'll be able to compare South Korea and Japan after that, by comparing the most beautiful spots!
What's then coming in Japan is still being planned, but the last day in Japan we have the pleasure to meet Hitomi and Shota, who will be guiding us to the Airport in Osaka where we finally leave the country. Thank you in advance, that will be awesome! :-)

Japaaaaan we're coming!!!!

Raphael and I have decided to travel to Japan this summer! To express our pleasant anticipation and also to make you jealous I started this blog to keep you posted!
About our feeling right now: I think a picture says more than a thousand words...
As you can see, it was really hard to remain on the ground :-).
We will take off in Zürich on 23rd of July in the afternoon and arrive in Tokyo at 20:25 in the evening.

After six and a half happy weeks, we'll fly back from Osaka on 8th of September at 23:15 and arrive back in Zürich on the 9th, 13:20!

I hope you enjoy reading all these details, otherwise blame yourself ;-).